Conflicting Reports of a Possible New Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

The oil rig that blew earlier today in the Gulf of Mexico wasn’t “producing” when it blew, a spokesman for Mariner Energy said (and everyone who was on the rig is accounted for), though “Coast Guard officials said a sheen measuring one mile long by 100 feet wide had been spotted,” the Times now says. (They go on to detail the four significant accidents previously withstood by the same rig, one of many still active in Gulf waters less than 500 feet deep.)